– The Rangers were defeated by the New Jersey Devils, 5-3, tonight at Madison Square Garden in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final. The Devils lead the series 3-2.

– New York is now 208-225-8 overall in postseason action, including a 116-88-2 mark at home.

– The Rangers have come back from a 3-2 series deficit to advance in the playoffs twice before – in the 1994 Conference Final against New Jersey, and in the first round of this postseason against Ottawa.

– The Rangers out-hit the Devils, 40-26, in the contest. Sixteen of the Rangers’ 18 skaters registered at least one hit, and six Blueshirts were credited with three or more hits.

– New York won 37-62 faceoffs (60%) in the contest. Brian Boyle led all skaters with 13 faceoff wins in 14 attempts for a 93% success rate.

Player Notes:

– Ryan Callahan tallied a goal and led all skaters with six hits in 20:01 of ice time. He has recorded three points (two goals, one assist) in the last three games, and is now tied for 10th in the NHL with five goals in postseason action.

– Brandon Prust notched his first career playoff goal, and was credited with four hits in the contest.

– Marian Gaborik registered an unassisted goal at 0:17 of the third period, and was credited with two hits in 15:24 of ice time. The goal was his 18th career in the playoffs and 35th career playoff point.

– Brandon Dubinsky recorded an assist and was credited with three hits in 15:38 of ice time, while making his return to the lineup after missing the previous 11 games due to an injury sustained in Game 7 of the first round series against Ottawa. He has now tallied seven points (three goals, four assists) in six career playoff games against New Jersey.

– Ruslan Fedotenko tallied the primary assist on Prust’s first period goal to extend his point streak to three games (one goal, two assists over the span), and posted a plus-two rating in 15:18 of ice time. He has now recorded a point in four of five games in the series (one goal, three assists over the span).

– Artem Anisimov registered an assist, three shots on goal, and was credited with two blocked shots in 19:16 of ice time. He has now tallied four points (one goal, three assists) in the series.

– Derek Stepan recorded an assist and was credited with two hits in 16:22 of ice time. He is now tied for first on the team and sixth in the NHL with eight assists in postseason action.

– Henrik Lundqvist stopped 12 of 16 shots faced, and is now 25-29 overall in the playoffs with a 14-13 mark at home.

– Ryan McDonagh led all skaters with six blocked shots, registered three hits and a plus-two rating in 25:46 of ice time. He now leads the league with 60 blocked shots in the playoffs.

– Marc Staal was credited with three hits and three blocked shots, and logged a game-high, 26:50 of ice time.

Post-Game Quotes:

– John Tortorella on Ryan Callahan… “He played well. He found a way to score a goal. Got unlucky on another one on the power play. Did all the things he needed to do as a leader to try to get us a win, right to the bitter end. And he’ll do the same thing our next game.”

– Brad Richards on the team’s experience in games when facing elimination… “We’ll have to rely on it. We’ve been here twice already. In the first round we faced elimination (going into Game 6). If we go back (to New Jersey) and play like we did most of this game and keep pushing it that way, we’ll have a chance.”

– Ryan Callahan on the team’s momentum in the second period… “I thought we gained a little more momentum towards the end of the first, scoring that goal. And then there wasn’t too much said in the room. We knew the situation we were in. We knew we had to try to claw our way back, and we did that. To our credit, we showed a lot of character and we’ve got to find a way to get that next one.”

Team Schedule:

– The Blueshirts’ practice schedule for tomorrow, May 24, is 1:45 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.

– The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the New Jersey Devils on Friday, May 25, at Prudential Center (8:00 p.m.), in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final. The game will be televised live on NBC Sports Network, and can be heard on ESPN Radio 98.7FM.

Matteau, They’re deeper at forward, we’re better in goal and defense – but they match up very well against us, much like we matched up against Philly this season – and we weren’t that much better than Philly (on paper!) but we beat them like a drum!

It happens – matchups mean so much, and they happen to match up well against us. And they have the incentive of a “poor cousin” to beat the team that will ALWAYS outshine them, no matter how much they win in the swamps of Jersey, including the swamp of Newark.

most impressive thing about tonight – and it’s something I feel may be overlooked – was how they didn’t wilt after that atrocious Zajac goal. they could very easily have lost the momentum they gained prior to it and they didn’t…if anything, they got even stronger after that. if the team had called it a day after that goal, I’m not sure anyone would really have blamed them either. they showed a lot of heart in doing that and I hope they’re able to match that level of intensity on Friday.

Lloyd agree that was impressive and encouraging. And they had good pressure even after they tied it, just couldn’t finish. The failure to score the go ahead goal while they had the mo’ was where they lost it in my opinion, Devils grabbed it back.

Jimbo you got me by 5 years, I go back to ’72. So I get how hard it is to not be a realist, I mean a NN.

They match up well against us but let’s be honest, they are a good team. They didnt finish that far behind us. They steamrolled the Flyers who had steamrolled the Pens. Say what you want about the Flyers and their D, that’s still impressive.

not sure I’d agree with you. I feel that for most of the 3rd, the Rangers were very passive – certainly far more passive than they’d been for the previous 35-40 minutes. seemed like once they tied, they took their foot off the gas a bit and started playing it safe. that could also be attributable to the Devils upping their level a bit. I didn’t feel as if the Rangers really controlled the game for most of the 3rd, though.

Matteau, they definitely have peaked as the season has gone on – even during these playoffs – they looked to be vulnerable to losing to the *Panthers*, for goodness sakes – but they’ve improved as the playoffs have gone on.

I’d be willing to bet that they’re not this good when next season begins – and that they might even struggle to make the playoffs – but that won’t help us now – *we* need to beat them.

Lloyd we can agree on the last part of the 3rd but for a good while after the tie we were all over them. Cally missed that one in front, Dubi missed a chance to redirect a great pass from the point, there were others, and they were buzzing. But I said to my friend they need to take advantage of this or it;s going to shift. The devils withstood it and slowly took control.

Jimbo if Parise doesn’t return then no they won’t be as good but let me give you this to ponder. Their rookie defenseman Adam Larsson hasn’t played in this series and he is projected as an impact player. So how about the prospect that they may actually be better.

Absolutely ironical. We finally have some great line combinations and play with all-out instensity, probably the best game we played in the playoffs offensively and Henrik takes a huge dump. What a shame. You could see he was not right from the very beginning. The Devils playing LA; what a freeken shame. Also, poor DZ just can’t get it right We really pressured the Devil defense and could have won this game.

Larson hasn’t looked great, but that doesn’t mean that he’s a bust by any means – I think they have problems in the future with goaltending and the replacement of Parise, should he leave – and I simply do not believe that scrubs like Gionta2, Clarkson, etc. are going to be reliable for them in the future – Elias is old, as is that other Czech bastage whos name I cant remember’- I think they’re in a zone right now, and can do no wrong – but let’s see where they are at this time next year.